Day 5

Well since today is Saturday and all (well that and the fact that I'm sick and blogging in between naps) you get a double whammy - Day 4 and Day 5 posted within hours of each other. Today I am making my MENU for two weeks and my SHOPPING LIST... two things that are VERY hard when dieting. I am using some of the recipes you've shared with me so I will post the recipe and my thoughts as I try them :) But I'm hoping that this is also difficult for some of you out there so we can help each other out with little snippets of info. Or so I can help you out by letting you know that Harris Teeter has their boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale - buy one, get TWO free! I just saved like $50 on chicken! Go there, get some. On another note - I just watched this really helpful video about foods you should not eat vs foods you should eat and why - it was life changing, really. So I thought I'd throw this helpful info your way... if you want to see for yourself you can visit the website it's called Beyond Diet.

Foods to AVOID: hydrogenated oils, canola/veggie oil, margarine, substitute fake butter, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, soy products, granola, orange juice, whole wheat bread, healthy cereals, low fat muffins

The REASON: These foods actually inhibit your ability to burn fat. Some of them turn to sugar in your system like whole wheat bread, OJ and healthy cereals... that's what they don't advertise. When this happens it increased your body's blood sugar which makes your body produce insulin... which tells your body to store fat = not what we want! Some of these foods are not "real" foods like substitute fake butter and artificial sweeteners. If you can't understand the ingredients your body can't either, which means your body doesn't know what to do with it. Your liver breaks down what you eat and decides what to do with it as well as getting rid of waste. If you put all this junk in your body it gets too busy getting rid of the waste and just decides to stick that hunk of fat on your thigh instead of distributing the fat throughout your body for energy... because it's easier. So try not to bombard your liver with junk, that way it has time to distribute the good for you stuff. I mean that sounds easy enough, Right?

Stuff you want to EAT: real butter, whole eggs, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, steak, chicken, rice, sweet potatoes, bacon, fruits and veggies.

The REASON: it's GOOD for you and your body knows just what to do with it! Of course you need to maintain some sort of portion control but still stick with the real foods, the foods that have ONE ingredient.

So maybe this will help with your meal planning and grocery list making. You should definitely make a meal plan by the way - you don't want to get home from work and just throw something together... you want good healthy, scrumptious choices.

That's all for now folks, any questions??